Afrin: USA, Turkey and the Kurds

Afrin: USA, Turkey and the Kurds

The operation of the Turkish Armed Forces and the pro-Turkish formations of the "Free Syrian Army" against the Afrinian Kurds was provoked by the actions of the US and the position of the Kurdish leadership.

Thus, Washington's support for the separatist aspirations of part of the Kurdish establishment for the creation of the independent Kurdish state entity "Rozhava" in the Khasak, Menbijah and Afrin led to the fact that the leaders of the Kurds Afrin and Menbijah refused to restore the state government departments of the Syrian Arab Republic on the territories under control and allow Syrian government troops there.

The United States for several years delivered supplies to Kurdish forces, including antiaircraft and anti-tank missile systems, which, according to Ankara, could be transferred to the armed formations of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a recognized terrorist organization in Turkey and a number of other countries.

The last straw for the Turkish leadership was the statement of the spokesman for the Pentagon, the spokesman for Operation Unshakable Resolve, Colonel of the US Armed Forces, Thomas Villa, on January 14, 2017, about the plans of the United States to set up a so-called " "Syrian border forces" totaling 30 thousand people, including 15 thousand Kurdish fighters.

Russia's position on the "Afrin crisis" is predetermined by allied relations with the Syrian state and its legitimate government, supported by the majority of the Syrians.

The Russian side was prepared to guarantee Turkey and the Kurds no threat from either side, provided that the territories of the state authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic controlled by the Kurdish formations were restored and Syrian government troops admitted there. This was to ensure the protection of the territorial integrity of Syria and protect Turkey from the possible penetration into its territory of troops associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

An example of how this might look is the Tel-Rifat district in the province of Aleppo, located east of the canton of Afrin. Here the Turkish troops and the formations of the "Free Syrian Army" supported by them from the local (Kurdish) self-defense units are separated by Russian military police and Syrian border guards. It is to this area that refugees are now being sent from the war zone.

As for Afrin itself, Russian military observers left the area due to the worsening of the situation. The reason for this aggravation is obvious - hoping for the United States, the Kurdish leaders remained on separatist positions and did not abandon the plans threatening Turkey to create an independent Kurdish state.

The example of the Iraqi Kurdistan thrown by the Americans to the mercy of fate did not serve as a lesson for the separatist leaders among the Syrian Kurds.

Despite the fact that neither Iran nor Russia approve of the military operation of Turkey in Africa, they do not oppose it, as it is directed against the parties associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which are not allies of either Iran or Russia, nor official Damascus.

As is known, according to the Astana agreements, the guarantor countries, including Turkey, have the right to conduct military operations against terrorists in order to ensure security in the north of Syria.

While conducting an operation against the Afrinian Kurds, Turkey is clearly abusing this right, but neither Russia nor Iran has any formal grounds to prevent it. And the Kurdish leaders are guilty of this, they vainly hoped for the United States.

The Turkish operation in the north of Syria visually demonstrated the final exit of Ankara from the influence of Washington. Shortly before the announcement of the outbreak of hostilities against Kurds, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General J.Danford, arrived in Turkey. Apparently, the purpose of meetings with the Turkish leadership was to prevent the operation in Africa. However, the further development of events showed that the American representative could not influence the decision of Ankara.

According to official Pentagon data, the US did not provide military assistance to Afrino Kurds. At the same time, part of the weapons supplied by the Americans to the Syrian democratic forces were, with a high degree of probability, redirected to Afrin. Thus, to date, servicemen of one NATO member state are dying from the weapons delivered to their opponent by another member of the alliance.